Fast evaluation methodology for automatic custom hardware prototyping

Hardware customization for scientific applications has shown a big potential for reducing power consumption and increasing performance. In particular, the automatic generation of ISA extensions for General-Purpose Processors (GPPs) to accelerate domain-specific applications is an active field of research to accelerate. Those domain-specific accelerated processors are mostly evaluated in simulation environments due to technical and programmability issues while using real hardware. There is no automatic mechanism to test those custom units in a real hardware environment. In this paper we present a toolchain that can automatically identify candidate parts of the code suitable for reconfigurable hardware acceleration. We validate our toolchain using ClustalW.Postprint (published version

Metodologí­a para la generación y evaluación automática de hardware específico

En el área de la bioinformática podemos encontrar aplicaciones que suponen un reto para el diseño de nuevas arquitecturas de procesadores en términos de rendimiento, ya que sus características difieren de las de las aplicaciones de propósito general. Por ello proponemos una nueva arquitectura con unidades funcionales reconfigurables para un dominio específico de aplicaciones. Así, el primer paso para definir la nueva arquitectura será la creación de la nueva ISA del procesador, que se compondrá de extensiones de la ISA original. Para conseguir dicho objetivo, presentamos una metodología para identificar automáticamente patrones de instrucciones y generar prototipos de las unidades funcionales que las ejecutan. Hemos implementado la metodología de manera experimental con el soporte de la infraestructura Trimaran para la identificación de extensiones de la ISA, la herramienta DWARV para la generación de código VHDL, y la plataforma MOLEN para la evaluación de los prototipos hardware específicos generados automáticamente. En las evaluaciones iniciales de los prototipos generados para una aplicación de estudio, ClustalW, se ha obtenido hasta un 8.54x de speed-up para un único acelerador, mientras que el speed-up de toda la aplicación está por encima de 2x.Postprint (published version

Preliminary work on a mechanism for testing a customized architecture

Hardware customization for scientific applications has shown a big potential for reducing power consumption and increasing performance. In particular, the automatic generation of ISA extensions for General-Purpose Processors (GPPs) to accelerate domain-specific applications is an active field of research. Those domain-specific customized processors are mostly evaluated in simulation environments due to technical and programmability issues while using real hardware. There is no automatic mechanism to test ISA extensions in a real hardware environment. In this paper we present a toolchain that can automatically identify candidate parts of the code suitable for acceleration to test them in a reconfigurable hardware. We validate our toolchain using a bioinformatic application, ClustalW, obtaining an overall speed-up over 2x.Postprint (published version

Lypsyrobottitilojen lomituskäytännöt

Robottilypsy tuo uudenlaisia näkökohtia lypsyrobottitilojen lomituskäytäntöihin. Fyysisesti raskaan lypsytyön jäädessä pois voidaan keskittyä seuraamaan eläinten terveyttä ja hyvinvointia, jolloin eläinten hoitajan ammattitaitoa tarvitaan. Pohjoissavolaisilta paikallisyksiköiltä puuttuu yhtenäiset toimintaohjeet robottitilojen hälytyksien vastaanotosta ja niiden kuittaamisesta. Työssä tehtiin lomituskäytäntöjä selvittävä kysely, joka lähetettiin robottitilojen lomituksia järjestäville paikallisyksiköille, lypsyrobottitiloille sekä lypsyrobottitiloilla työskenteleville lomittajille. Vastaukset kerättiin verkkosalkkuun luodun kyselyn avulla. Kysely lähetettiin yhdeksälle paikallisyksikölle, 48 robottitilalle ja 84 lomittajalle. Kyselyn vastausprosentiksi saatiin paikallisyksiköiden osalta 100, robottitilojen 37,5 ja lomittajien osalta 34,5. Robottitilojen lomitusten kuumin puheenaihe tällä hetkellä on se, kuka hoitaa päivystykset ja hälytysten vastaanottamisen. Yleinen käytäntö hälytysten vastaanotossa on, kahden lomaan oikeutetun tilalla molempien ollessa lomalla tilan ulkopuolella, että lomittaja/lomittajat hoitaa automaattisesti päivystyksen. Sama asia toistuu yhden lomaan oikeutetun yrittäjän tilalla. Tutkimuksessa oli myös sellaisia tiloja jotka eivät tarvinneet päivystystä lainkaan. Keskimäärin näitä tiloja on 4,4 tilaa / paikallisyksikkö. Lypsytyön jäädessä pois se ei tarkoita automaattisesti työmenekin vähenemistä. Kyselyyn vastanneista tiloista 17 % työmenekki koettiin lypsyrobotin asentamisen jälkeen lisääntyneeksi jonkin verran. Tähän syynä oli karjamäärän lisääntyminen. Vastanneista tiloista 56 % oli asentanut robotin uuteen pihattoon. Tutkimuksen mukaan keskimääräinen lomittajan työaika robottitiloilla on 8,11 tuntia. Keskimäärin lypsylehmiä tiloilla on 66,39 kappaletta, hiehoja 43,33 kappaletta ja vasikoita 25,56. Kyselyyn vastanneista lomittajista 86 % mielestä robottitiloilla lomittaminen on mennyt parempaan suuntaan. Tämä johtuu töiden fyysisestä keventymisestä. Työn muuttumista huonompaan suuntaan arvioi 10% lomittajista. Lomittajat kertoivat syyksi työajan pidentymisen ja henkisen paineen kasvamisen. Jatkotutkimusta tälle työlle voisi olla, yhtenäisten oimintaohjeiden laatiminen lypsyrobottitilojen lomituksille.Robot milking systems bring new aspects for farm relief ractices at dairy farms. When hard physical work is no more needed, an animal care taker can focus more on observing nimals’ health and welfare, so more professional skills are also needed. The local unit in Northern Savo does not have a coherent operational model for receiving and signing for alarms from robot milking farms. In this Thesis we made an inquiry to find out the relief practices at robot milking dairy farms. We sent the inquiry to the local unit organizing farm relief services in Northern Savo, to robot milking farms and farm relief workers working at the farms. The results were collected in Verkkosalkku. We sent questionnaires to nine local units, 48 robot milking farms and 84 farm relief workers. The response per cent we got from local unit was 100 %, the farms 37,5 % and from farm relief workers 34,5 % At the moment the biggest problem is who will take care of duties and receiving the alarms from the robot milking farms. The common practice is that when both persons entitled for holiday are absent from the farm at the same time, the farm relief worker will automatically take care of the duty. This applies also for a single farm entrepreneur. In our research there were also farms which had no need for duty at all. On average there were this kind of farms about 4,4 farm per a local unit area. When milking work goes out it does not mean that working time decreases. The farms who answered to the inquiry, 50% of them say that working hours stay same and 17% farmers say that working hours increased to some extent. The reason for this is that the number of animals increased. 56% of the farmers who answered to the inquiry had installed the robot in a new loose stall stable. In ours research relief worker’s working time is average 8,11 hours. The average amount of dairy cattle at a farm are 66,39, heifers are 43,33 and calves 25,56. About the farm relief workers who answered the inquiry 86% say that work is going better at the robot milking farms. This is because there is less physical work. 10% of the farm relief workers said that working got worse. The reason for this is longer working hours and more mental pressure. As a follow-up research for this Thesis a common operational model for farm relief work practices at robot milking farms could be made

Perforación en bóveda palatina por consumo de cocaína

El consumo de cocaína va en aumento en la población mundial, los efectos del consumo de esta droga pueden ocasionar efectos secundarios. Se presenta un caso de paciente femenino de 48 años de edad que presenta una úlcera crónica buco-nasal de 2 meses de evolución, la cual le ocasiona problemas para la deglución y fonación. Se discuten la etiopatogenia, diagnóstico diferencial y tratamientoWorldwide, the use of cocaine has an increased over the years, various secondary effects have been described. Here we present a 48 years old female with a 2-month evolution bucconasal ulcer in the hard palate induced by cocaine usage accompanied by swallow and phonation dysfunctions. Ethiopathogenesis, differential diagnoses and treatment are discussed

Automatic generation and testing of application specific hardware accelerators on a new reconfigurable OpenSPARC platform

Specific hardware customization for scientific applications has shown a big potential to address the current holy grail in computer architecture: reducing power consumption while increasing performance. In particular, the automatic generation of domain-specific accelerators for General- Purpose Processors (GPPs) is an active field of research to the point that different leading hardware design companies (e.g. Intel, ARM) are announcing commercial platforms that integrate GPPs and FPGAs. In this paper we present a new framework with a holistic approach that addresses the challenge of design exploration of specific application accelerators. Our work focuses on a target platform consisting of a GPP with a reconfigurable functional unit. The framework includes a reconfigurable 1-core 1-thread OpenSPARC with a new programmable specific purpose unit (SPU) inside the OpenSPARC core. In order to program the SPU we have developed an automatic toolchain that profiles an application and discovers its main computing bottlenecks. With that information our toolchain is able to both design hardware specific accelerators that can be automatically mapped in the aforementioned SPU, and generate the binary code necessary to run the application using those accelerators. The OpenSPARC with the new specific application accelerators, defined in a Hardware Description Language, can then be executed and measured. Still awaiting further development, nowadays our framework is a proof-of-concept that shows that this kind of systems can be developed and programmed as easily as a GPP. In a near future it would be the source of very interesting information about the capabilities and drawbacks of those mixed GPP-FPGA systems.Postprint (published version

Análisis comparativo de la aplicación de cuatro mecanismos de participación en Colombia, una mirada hacia la gobernanza

Los conceptos de gobernabilidad y la gobernanza, se usan para analizar el funcionamiento del Estado, la gobernabilidad se refiere a la capacidad institucional para satisfacer necesidades, en tanto, la gobernanza tiene que ver con la calidad y oportunidad de esa respuesta, teniendo como objetivo el logro de un desarrollo económico, social e institucional del país, que promueva un sano equilibrio entre el Estado, la sociedad civil y el mercado. En este contexto la participación ciudadana es un elemento fundamental que permite brindar un marco de referencia al modo y la acción de gobernar. La forma de gobierno en Colombia corresponde a una democracia representativa, con separación de poderes. No obstante, desde la Constitución Política de 1991 se ha venido trabajando mucho en la democracia participativa y se han producido desarrollos legislativos sobre mecanismos de participación que faciliten esa intervención en lo público de los ciudadanos. Este trabajo pretende analizar, desde el ámbito de la gobernabilidad y la gobernanza, la forma en que se han aplicado los mecanismos de participación a partir de la información reportada por la Registraduría Nacional y reflexionar sobre los factores de éxito o fracaso en el logro de sus fines en el camino hacia la gobernanza. Palabras clave: derechos humanos, democracia, participación, mecanismos de participación, gobernanza y gobernabilidad territorial.The concepts of governability and governance, are used to analyze the performance of the state, governability refers to the institutional capability to satisfy needs, while, governance relates to the quality and opportunity of such response, all with the objective of attaining economic, social and institutional development for the country, thus promoting a healthy equilibrium between the state, civil society and the market. Civic participation is a fundamental element in this context because it sets a frame of reference for the way and action of governing. The form of government in Colombia corresponds to that of a representative democracy, with separation of powers. However, since the constitution of 1991 efforts have been made in progressing towards a participative democracy and legislative developments have occurred over participation mechanisms that will enable the intervention of the citizens on public affairs. This work aims to analyze, from the scope of governability and governance, the way how participation methods have been applied, from the information reported by the National Registry Office, and to reflect on the factors of success or failure of goals set in the path to governance. Key words: human rights, democracy, participation, participation mechanisms, governance and territorial governance

Palatine perforation induced by cocaine

El consumo de cocaína va en aumento en la población mundial, los efectos del consumo de esta droga pueden ocasionar efectos secundarios. Se presenta un caso de paciente femenino de 48 años de edad que presenta una úlcera crónica buco-nasal de 2 meses de evolución, la cual le ocasiona problemas para la deglución y fonación

Advancement of new research in Carmona Roman Necropolis

La necrópolis romana de Carmona fue excavada fundamentalmente a finales del siglo xix. Desde entonces la significación cultural de los tipos de enterramientos que la caracterizan, cremaciones en cámaras hipogeas de carácter familiar, ha estado presente enThe necrópolis romana de Carmona was excavated mainly in the late nineteenth century. Since then the cultural significance of the burial typology that characterizes this site familiar cremation hypogean chambers has been under the debate of the romanizat

Evaluation of the remineralizing capacity of silver diamine fluoride on demineralized dentin under pH-cycling conditions

Objective: (1) to determine the effects of the silver diamine fluoride (SDF) and sodium fluoride (NaF) in demineralized dentin exposed to an acid challenge by pH-cycling, (2) to evaluate the remineralizing capacity of SDF/NaF products based on the physicochemical and mechanical properties of the treated dentin surfaces. Methodology: In total, 57 human molars were evaluated in different stages of the experimental period: sound dentin – negative control (Stage 1), demineralized dentin – positive control (Stage 2), and dentin treated with SDF/NaF products + pH-c (Stage 3). Several commercial products were used for the SDF treatment: Saforide, RivaStar, and Cariestop. The mineral composition and crystalline and morphological characteristics of the dentin samples from each experimental stage were evaluated by infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray diffraction, and electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) analytical techniques. Moreover, the mechanical response of the samples was analyzed by means of the three-point bending test. Statistics were estimated for ATR-FTIR variables by Wilcoxon test, while the mechanical data analyses were performed using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests. Results: Regarding the chemical composition, we observed a higher mineral/organic content in the SDF/NaF treated dentin + pH-c groups (Stage 3) than in the positive control groups (Saforide p=0.03; Cariestop p=0.008; RivaStar p=0.013; NaF p=0.04). The XRD results showed that the crystallite size of hydroxyapatite increased in the SDF/NaF treated dentin + pH-c groups (between +63% in RivaStar to +108% in Saforide), regarding the positive control. SEM images showed that after application of the SDF/NaF products a crystalline precipitate formed on the dentin surface and partially filled the dentin tubules. The flexural strength (MPa) values were higher in the dentin treated with SDF/NaF + pH-c (Stage 3) compared to the positive control groups (Saforide p=0.002; Cariestop p=0.04; RivaStar p=0.04; NaF p=0.02). Conclusions: The application of SDF/NaF affected the physicochemical and mechanical properties of demineralized dentin. According to the results, the use of SFD/NaF had a remineralizing effect on the dentin surface even under acid challenge